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Jim Carroll

Music, Life and everything else

Slane Castle gig on August 28?

Per Ronan McGreevy’s interview with venue owner Lord Henry Mountcharles to run in the paper tomorrow, this year’s Slane Castle concert, if there is one, will happen on August 28. “That decision has not yet been made”, said Mountcharles when …

Jim Carroll

jimcarroll

Thu, Feb 18, 2010, 14:04

Per Ronan McGreevy’s interview with venue owner Lord Henry Mountcharles to run in the paper tomorrow, this year’s Slane Castle concert, if there is one, will happen on August 28.

“That decision has not yet been made”, said Mountcharles when asked by Ronan about Slane 2010. “I would have to say that I’m hopeful, but not if the is aren’t dotted and the ts aren’t crossed, but I’m hopeful if there is going to be a show it is going to be at the end of August.”

Mountcharles refused to be drawn on who might be playing (“if I did answer that question, you might have some indication of what I have in mind and I ain’t going to go there”), though he did say that there were many acts who could play the venue. “People often say to me that we have run out of acts to play Slane and I say that is rubbish. I actually cite Oasis as the example. There are bands out there that perhaps you and I haven’t heard of yet who could headline Slane.”

He also addressed the many problems which occured in the wake of last year’s Oasis show at the venue. “There were problems, there is no getting away from that and yes a lot of discussions, meetings and physical changes to the site have been made. The areas where concessions can be put has been expanded. Those things are largely to improve the comfort zones on the sites.

“The principle problem was a significant systems failure on the Dublin gate and that was where my attention was focused. I wanted to find out what the hell happened. There are changes about how it is going to be related to security and arrangements of how people get in and all of that. There are security aspects to all of that and for me to discuss those with you would not be appropriate.

“I was very pissed off about what happened. It should not happen. I will be all over some people like a hot rash. I am in the business of not only make sure that things do not go wrong, but little improvements that people might not be conscious of are made to the venue. There is no room for complacency in the open air show. Complacency is frankly a sin. Attention to detail is paramount.”

It will be interesting to see who will head the bill if the gig goes ahead because, frankly, I can’t think of a whole lot of acts who are (a) on the road this summer and (b) capable of filling Slane. AC/DC? Kings Of Leon? Let the speculation begin!

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